Men's Basketball 2025-26 Roster Reload: Marshall

Corny Jackson enters year two at the helm of Marshall after replacing longtime head coach Dan D’Antoni last offseason.

Jackson made an immediate, going 20-13 and finishing 5th in the conference with a 12-6 record good for fifth in the conference. The Herd finished the regular season strong, winning four consecutive games, before losing to Arkansas State in the quarterfinals of the newly formatted conference tournament.

With a mix of returners and new additions, Jackson looks to build on that momentum while dealing with significant roster turnover.

Point guard Jalen Speer leads the returning group. Speer started 23 games last season, averaging 10.8 points in 28.8 minutes per game. He will once again be counted on to provide scoring and also orchestrate the offense this season and is expected to be one of the top players on the league, as he was name preseason First-Team All-Sun Belt.

𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗘𝗥’𝗦 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗧𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧.@Herd_MBB graduate guard Jalen Speer averaged 20.5 points and four assists per game while shooting 64% from the floor and 58% from the field in two road wins to earn #SunBeltMBB Player of the Week honors. ☀️🏀

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— Sun Belt (@SunBelt) January 28, 2025

In the frontcourt, Wyatt Fricks, a 6-foot-10 forward, leads the returning group. Fricks saw several starts last season and scored 5 points per game. His size, athleticism, and versatility will be important in a frontcourt that was depleted.

Other promising bench pieces return as well. Will Moore, an athletic wing, was expected to take a major leap this season, but unfortunately will miss the season due to injury. Freshman Erich Harding and Kaiden Whited showed flashes as freshmen and could see bigger roles this season. Kai Spears, a former Alabama transfer, appeared in 22 games last season and adds depth in the backcourt.

Departures

Marshall faces the challenge of replacing nine players and just over 80 percent of last season’s scoring production.

The biggest loss comes in the frontcourt with Obinna Anochili-Killen, the reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, and second-team all-conference selection. He led Marshall with 14.4 points per game and ranked second nationally with 90 total blocks.

Dezayne Mingo transferred to Charlotte after averaging 12.6 points, 4.7 assists, and 5.2 rebounds in his lone season in Huntington. Mingo scored in double-figures in 11 of the final 12 games and recorded three double-doubles last season.

Huntington native Mikal Dawson will also depart, after he returned home and averaged a career-high 12.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Nate Martin, who led the team with 8.3 rebounds per game, and averaged 9.6 points, also graduated. Martin did some things that did not show up on the box score, but his physicality and presence on both sides of the court will be extremely missed.

Bench production will also need to be worked on. Jakob Gibbs leaves after averaging 12.3 minutes per game, while his twin brother Cade Gibbs averaged 4.2 points in 13.2 minutes per game last season. Ryan Nutter has medically retired after several concussions, but will stay with the squad as a student coach. Kycen Pruett, who redshirted last season, has transferred to Coastal Georgia, and Creighton Theineman is now a graduate assistant.

Arrivals

To fill in the gaps left by those departures, Marshall brings in eight new players — six transfers and two freshmen.

One of the most intriguing additions is Wilson Dubinsky, a transfer from South Carolina State. The 6-foot-3 sharpshooter has connected on 40.5 percent of his three-point attempts in his career. Over 76 percent of his total shots have come from behind the arc, and his shooting ability should make an immediate impact for the Herd.

Down low, the Herd added the tallest player in the Sun Belt in 7-foot-4 center Matt van Komen, who transfers in from Elon. Van Komen, who was named Third-Team All_Conference, averaged 7.9 rebounds in only 23 minutes per game last season, and brings experience as this is his seventh year of college basketball.

Denied by the Secretary of Defense!#phoenixrising #SALT pic.twitter.com/koNhvZjAIk

— Elon Men’s Basketball (@ElonMBasketball) January 3, 2025

Noah Otshudi, a transfer from Western University in Canada, is also an intriguing addition. Otshudi averaged 16.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last season and has the potential to be a scoring threat in the backcourt. He has drawn some comparisons to Dezayne Mingo, who also came from a Canadian University, but seems to be more of an athletic off-ball guard.

A pair of Gillette College stars, Andrew Fuquay and Caleb Hollenbeck, transfer to Marshall and could play roles immediately. Fuquay, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 15.5 points on 55 percent shooting. Hollenbeck brings more sharpshooting, as the 6-foot-4 guard scored 16.1 points per game while shooting 46.2 percent from deep.

Rounding out the transfers is Shamarrie Hugie, a 6-foot-6 wing from Cowley College (JUCO). Hugie originally committed to Missouri State, but opted to head to Huntington late in the summer. He averaged 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds last season.

The Herd also brought in two promising freshmen in Bryce Slay and Landen Joseph. Slay, a 6-foot-5 guard from North Carolina, was first-team all-state as a senior and chose Marshall over programs like Charleston, USF, and Charlotte. Joseph, a 6-foot-2 guard, joined the team right before school started. Both look to break into the rotation this season, but are great long-term pieces for Marshall.

Marshall’s roster looks much different than it did a season ago, but Jackson’s second year offers the chance to show that year one was not a fluke. They start the season on Nov. 3, as they travel to newly added MAC school UMass at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN+.